


Somewhere I Belong

by MamaBear7319



Series: The Happier, Friendlier Timeline (2014) [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Irondad, Peter is Broken, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-09
Updated: 2020-10-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 22:41:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 18,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26905297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MamaBear7319/pseuds/MamaBear7319
Summary: The Accident...there’s a million stories out there.  Sometimes May dies, sometimes she doesn’t.  In this one she doesn’t but Peter is hurt.  His recovery doesn’t go according to plan."You know, everyone has always asked me why I call you Mr. Stark. Why I don't call you Tony." Peter paused, trying to work up to what he wanted to say. "If I call you Tony...". Peter's voice caught a little bit, "If I call you Tony it means that you're more than just my mentor. And if you're more than just my mentor...". Peter wiped a stray tear from his cheek. "I don't think I could handle losing you. It would break me. So you've stayed Mr. Stark." Peter sucked in a breath and almost laughed, "But, it turns out I'm already broken."
Series: The Happier, Friendlier Timeline (2014) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1934734
Comments: 6
Kudos: 28





	1. The Accident

Tony glanced down at his phone screen and saw MJ's name. Answering, his heart started racing because instead of the snarky "Stark" he had come to expect from MJ, all he heard were sobs. "MJ, whats wrong?" The suit was already forming around him. Steve and Natasha froze mid conversation and turned towards him. "MJ, honey, I need you to calm down so I can understand what's going on." He flipped it over to speaker.

"They won't listen to me. They're taking him into surgery."

Tony handed the phone to Natasha. "MJ, I'm on my way. I'll trace the call. Keep taking to Natasha." He activated the suit fully and launched from the balcony FRIDAY had opened. "FRIDAY, find Peter. Trace MJ's call."

"Peter's tracker is no longer transmitting. MJ's call originated from the Regional Trauma Center in Queens."

Tony felt like he'd been hit in the chest. "FRIDAY, check the hospital records and see if Peter is listed. Call Helen and get her routed there now." He hit the thrusters and plotted a path to the hospital. He was too far out. It would take him almost 10 minutes to get there at top speed.

"Boss. Peter is not listed but a John Doe was admitted almost an hour ago along with a Jane Doe. Both are listed in critical condition.”

MJ had called him so it wasn't her. But, Peter sometimes went out to dinner with May on Tuesdays because she got off early.

XXXXXXXXXX

"MJ, where are you?" Natasha looked up at Steve who already had his phone out telling Clint to prep the Quinjet. It was the only way the rest of them could get into the city quickly.

"Hospital. There was a car accident. I didn't know it was him until they pulled May out." MJ bit back tears. "Nat..."

"Honey, were on our way. Tony will get there first but we're right behind him. You're at Regional Trauma in Queens, right?" FRIDAY was already transmitting data to Natasha's phone which she had in her other hand. She followed Steve out of the common area. Bucky and Sam were already in the hanger with Clint getting the jet powered up. "Stay on the phone with me, okay? Do your parents know where you are?"

MJ sniffled, "They're both working. I was at the library. I was going to meet Peter and May for dinner."

Natasha ran up the ramp as Clint closed it behind her. "We're on our way. What floor are you on?"

"I don't know."

"MJ look around you and tell me what you see?" Natasha looked down at her phone, keeping Tony's phone up to her ear. FRIDAY was still transmitting information as she got it. FRIDAY had confirmed that the two unknown patients were Peter and May. She scrolled through it and handed it to Steve. "MJ, what do you see?"

MJ's breathing had slowed down a little. She no longer felt like she was hyperventilating. "A nurses station, lines on the floor. Lines on the wall."

"What color are the lines?" Natasha kept her voice even.

"Green. There's a number. Three. I'm on the third floor." MJ took a deep breath. "I'm on the 3rd floor."

Natasha held up three fingers. Steve nodded and told FRIDAY to let Tony know.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tony landed hard in front of the emergency room doors. The suit melted back into its nanohousing. He knew he had just terrified everyone within 20 feet of him. He didn't care. Walking through the door he heard FRIDAY tell him 3rd floor. Seeing a sign for the stairwell to the right of him he pushed the door open and took the stairs two at a time. Arriving at the third floor door he pushed it open. Tapping the side of his glasses he looked around. "FRIDAY, locate MJ. Is Helen here yet?"

"MJ is down the hallway to your left. Dr. Cho is 3 minutes out. The Quinjet is 5 minutes out."

Tony headed down the hall to find MJ. "FRIDAY, have you located Peter?" 

"Peter is in Operating Room 7. A message has been sent to the surgical team to wait on Dr. Cho before doing anything."

Tony stepped into an open waiting room and saw MJ, phone still up to her ear.

MJ saw Tony walk into the waiting room and ran over to him throwing her arms around him. "I tried to stop them. They can't operate on him. They wouldn't listen to me."

Tony tightened his arms around MJ. He could feel her shaking. "Honey, you did the right thing. Dr. Cho is on her way." He stopped short of telling her Peter would be fine because he didn't know. He didn't know if Peter would be ok. He didn't know if he'd ever talk to him again. And he felt himself start to hyperventilate. Then he remembered MJ was standing in front of him with her arms wrapped around his neck holding of to him because it might be the only thing keeping her upright. He glanced around the room, his eyes landing on an alcove to the side. He pulled MJ with him and pushed her into the seat hidden by the half wall. "FRIDAY, status update."

"Dr. Cho has arrived and is making her way to the operating room with her team. The Quinjet dropped off Agent Romanoff, Captain Rogers, and Sergeant Barnes."

XXXXXXXXXX

Helen Cho purposefully made her way through the hospital. Natasha had called her from the Quinjet. Clint had pushed the engines and was in the process of dropping her, Steve, and Bucky at helicopter pad on the roof. Since none of them knew what they were walking into they were trying to be prepared for anything. FRIDAY had been transmitting her anything she came across about Peter. They had already started prepping Peter for surgery. If she didn't get there in time it would end up being so much worse for Peter. She had always had a fear that she would end up having to fight to save his life, she just really thought it would be superhero related. Not a stupid car accident. She rounded the corner and saw Rogers and Barnes push open a stairwell door. Natasha was close behind but headed off in another direction. Helen assumed she was headed to where ever Tony was. Tony was the last of her worries right now. The man had freaked out when Peter had gotten the flu. She couldn't imagine how he was right now.

"Dr. Cho..." Steve started but Helen cut him off.

"Just stay with me. I may need help."

Bucky looked at Steve but didn't argue, he just fell in step behind Steve.

Helen pushed the operating rooms doors open. "You were give orders to stand down." Helen watched the surgical team jump at the sound of her voice. It was nice to know that having the job of doctor to a bunch of superhero's had given her the ability to be more than a little forceful when she had to be. She quickly took in the machines surrounding the operating table. She had managed to avoid looking at the patient but her eyes finally landed on the figure on the table. If she didn't know what was at stake she might have frozen. Peter looked...well, he didn't look like Peter. Her eyes snapped back up to the IV. "What did you give him." One of her own surgical team moved forward and started working. They all knew what needed to be done. "All of you out." She stood by the door and waited for all of the original team to file out. Barnes and Rogers were still standing by the door. Helen took a deep breath and walked toward the table.

"It looks like they were trying to put him under as well as give him something for the pain."

Helen ventured a glance down and saw Peter's familiar brown eyes staring up at her, panic evident in them. "Peter, we have you." She quickly took stock of his injuries. She had read through the initial ER intake reports. Head trauma, shattered ulna and radius on both arms, right hand broken in multiple places, most of the ribs on his right side were also broken. There was danger that one might puncture a lung but that wasn't the current emergency. It was the intracranial pressure that was the current problem. She looked over at the relatively empty side of the room. "Any time Stephen."

Steve and Bucky looked past Peter as a faint orange circle started glowing. They trusted Helen Cho but they had both also seen way too much in their lives. A man dressed in scrubs stepped through the circle.

"While I'm still technically able to practice medicine, showing up in an operating room with eyewitnesses would just lead to a lot of questions."

Bucky instinctively moved between the new arrival and Peter. Helen looked between Barnes and their new arrival. "We don't have time for this. Dr. Stephen Strange, Bucky Barnes and Steve Rogers."

Dr. Strange stepped forward and Bucky grudgingly stepping to the side. "I'm curious to meet the fifteen year old boy that has two super soldiers protecting him and Helen Cho willing to call in favors."

Helen looked up from a readout, "Help me save him and you can meet him." She glanced over at a member of her medical team. "We can't give him anything else until he metabolizes what they gave him. Keep an eye on his blood saturation levels." She moved closer to Peter and leaned over. She could tell the morphine they had given him had worn off because he was starting to tense up. "Peter, I can't give you the good stuff yet. I know you're in pain. We need to look at your head." She moved back and started examining the side of his head.

Bucky moved to Peter's side the second Dr. Cho touched the side of his head. He knew what this was like. He knew what the kid was going through. Hydra had never been big on pain killers. He could hear Peter's heart racing. "Peter. You can do this." He reached down and grabbed Peter's hand. The one that wasn't crushed. Even though the rest of the arm was broken he knew Peter wouldn't have a problem grabbing his hand. He grasped Peter's hand with the metal and locked eyes with him. "Look at me. Don't worry about Dr. Cho. Steve is going to hold your legs so feel free to kick him. Remember the crazy science experiment, the one that's still classified?"

Helen looked up briefly as Bucky launched into a ridiculous story about something from World War II. She was gaining a new found respect for him. Peter's heart rate was no longer racing. It was obvious from all of his other readings that he was still in tremendous pain but whatever Bucky was doing was keeping him centered. She had watched this kid get stitched up with no pain killers so she knew he was tough. This was unimaginable though. "Stephen, can you do something about the pressure, please."

Steve and Bucky both glanced up as Dr. Strange started to work. They both knew to hold their questions until Peter was taken care of. Bucky looked back down at Peter and kept talking. Steve noticed that Bucky's hand was denting slightly under the pressure from Peter's hand. He could also feel Peter's legs tense and pull against the pressure he was putting on them. "Can't you give him something?"

A member of Dr. Cho's team looked over at Steve. "As soon as he metabolized what they gave him. It shouldn't be long. But if we give it while there's still drugs in his system it'll do more damage than good."


	2. Repairs

Tony paced in front of MJ. FRIDAY had gotten information about May. She had a spinal cord injury but was stable. He knew she was in good hands for the time being. He saw Natasha walk into the room and head toward them.

"Barnes and Steve are with Dr. Cho in the operating room. There's nothing we can do until she's done." Natasha was blunt and to the point but she knew better than to coddle Tony right now. Facts were what he needed to focus on.

"It should be me in there with him." Tony paced in front of MJ and Natasha. He should be the one with Peter, not Steve, not Barnes.

Natasha knew Tony wasn't thinking much past what kind of shape Peter was in right now. FRIDAY was still feeding them both information so they both knew the extent of his injuries. "Let Dr. Cho work. That's all we can do right now." She looked over and saw Rhodey walk into the waiting room. She waved him over. Reaching down she put her hand on MJ's shoulder. The girl jumped at the touch. "Come on, lets see if we can find some coffee or something."

Rhodey nodded at Natasha as they exchanged places. He watched his friend pace. He finally caught Tony's eye. "What can I do?"

Tony stopped pacing and sank into a chair. "I need to know how he's doing. FRIDAY can only tell me so much. I need to know what he needs."

Rhodey slid his phone out and texted Steve. If he didn't get an answer by the time Natasha got back he would head to the operating room himself. He was a little surprised Tony hadn't forced his way in already. On the other hand, he could tell Tony was, for quite possibly the first time in his life, faced with something he couldn't fix himself. And it probably terrified him.

XXXXXXXXXX

Steve felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. They had finally been able to give Peter something that actually worked on him so he was now just standing at the edge of the room watching the two doctors work. He pulled his phone out and read the message from Rhodey. "Is there anything we can tell them." Dr. Cho looked up from the arm she was currently reconstructing. Dr. Strange was on the other side doing something. Steve had given up on trying to figure out what Dr. Strange was doing. All he knew was that whatever it was, it was good for Peter.

"Tell Tony that his kid is out of danger for now. I'm setting the bones in his arms and Dr. Strange is working on the nerve damage. It's going to be a little bit longer." She looked over at Dr. Strange, "Is it safe to transport him using a portal? We can't keep him at the hospital."

Dr. Strange thought through the question. "Yes, I believe it would be safe. And I can understand why he doesn't need to be in a regular hospital. His regeneration ability is amazing. I'm actually observing nerves, muscle, and bone regrowing in front of me. It's fascinating."

"Try to remember that those nerves, muscles, and bones belong to a 15 year old kid." Bucky crossed his arms and stood next to Strange.

Dr. Cho looked back down at Peter's arm. "Tell Tony we'll transport him back to the compound when we're done."

Before Steve could ask, Bucky spoke up. "I'm staying. Deliver the information in person."

XXXXXXXXXX

Tony jumped to his feet when he saw Steve walk into the waiting room. "Steve?"

"Dr. Cho is working on him. He's out of danger. She has a lot of work to do through. She brought a neurosurgeon in to help. Between his arms and his head there was a lot of nerve damage. She's planning on taking him to the compound when she's done."

Tony started thinking through logistics of moving Peter. It was obvious he couldn't stay at the hospital. "Is it safe to move him? Even in the Quinjet I'm afraid it would be too rough."

"Yeah, about that. Dr. Cho has an alternative transportation in mind. I can't even begin to explain it to you." Steve could tell that his explanation was just making Tony even more nervous. "Bucky is staying with him. You know he won't let anything happen to him. And Dr. Cho won't do anything to hurt him. You've got to let her do her job." He knew Tony needed more than that. "Tony, he's not in danger."

Natasha and MJ walked back over to the group, both with coffee cups in their hands. "We saw May. She's unconscious still, although I think they may be keeping her out so they can evaluate. Her spinal cord and vertebrae were damaged."

Tony frowned, "How high?"

Natasha shook her head, "I think it was actually pretty low. All of the focus seemed to be on her lower back."

"FRIDAY, pull all of the information we have from Rhodey's injury and start finding some specialists." Tony looked over at Rhodey. They both knew what was in store for May. But, they had learned a lot from Rhodey's injury that could help May now. "The best one by far is Strange, but he was in a car accident right after you were hurt and then he disappeared."

Steve looked over at Tony. "Did you say Strange? Dr. Stephen Strange?"

Tony nodded, it was odd that Steve would know the name.

"That's who Dr. Cho called in to help Peter."

XXXXXXXXXX

Dr. Cho looked at her surgical team. "Once we have him to the compound, do what you can to clean him up before Stark sees him." She looked over at Bucky, "Text Steve and let him know we're transporting Peter now. I'm assuming you're going with Peter." She waited for the nod before continuing. "Tony is going to want to go the fastest route which will be the portal so have all of them come here."

Strange opened a portal and looked over at Dr. Cho. "You are using up all of your favors. I am not public transportation."

Bucky fought back a snarl as he passed Strange and entered the portal. He had kept one hand on Peter's leg, one of the few parts of him that wasn't covered in some kind of brace or tube. It was literally like walking from one room to another but he knew those rooms were miles apart.

The portal closed and Strange looked at Helen. "What makes this boy so special?"

"He's just a really good kid. He took his situation and did something good with it. It's hard to explain." Dr. Cho expected Tony any minute. She was never sure what kind of fireworks to expect from the man. "I've sent you data on his aunt too. Let me know what you think. She just your typical human so I don't think what you did for Peter would work on her."

Strange nodded. Peter's regeneration abilities were what allowed him to repair all the nerve damage. There would have to be a lot of regrowth that would have to happen on its own, but a normal human's nervous system wouldn't be able to take the strain. He knew because he had tried. He looked up as the operating room door opened.

"Helen, where is he?" Steve had told him they were transporting him back already but he had expected, maybe hoped, that Peter would still be in the operating room. Tony fought to keep panic from rising.

"He's back at the compound. Tony, this is Dr. Stephen Strange. Former neurosurgeon, current protector of the New York Sanctum, Master of the Mystic Arts. He transported Peter via a portal and is willing to transport you the same way. We can unpack all of this later, but right now, you want to see your kid, right?" She nodded at Stephen who produced a portal. "Stephen, let me know on the consult. And let me know when you want to come check on your patient." With that she stepped through the portal. She was hopeful that she had distracted Tony enough that all of the snarky comments wouldn't come out and he would just follow her through the portal and bring the rest in tow. Smiling she heard footsteps behind her in the compound hallway

XXXXXXXXXX

Tony sat in a chair next to Peter's bed with his feet propped up on the metal bars supporting the bed. Despite the attempt to make the rooms in the MedBay seem less like a hospital room, it was still a hospital room. He had pretty much been in the chair since they arrived. He had come so close to losing him he didn't want to leave. Not right now.

Steve walked in and paused by door, unsure if he needed to intrude. Tony nodded to him and he took it to be an invitation. "How is he?"

"The same. But Helen says to expect him to stay unconscious for at least a week. There's a lot of damage to heal."

Steve looked from Peter to Tony. "How are you?"

"I have been better." Tony dropped his feet down from the bed and shifted in his chair. "I thought part of me was prepared for this. With what he does, he will eventually get hurt. And not the run of the mill injuries he gets on a regular basis. But...". He looked over at Peter. "This. I wasn't prepared."

Steve sat down in the chair next to Tony's. "You never will be. In a battle, the expectation is always there. You go into them knowing something can happen, but it's still always a shock when something happens. This wasn't even on the radar. You could never be prepared for something like this."

Tony had spent the last couple hours thinking about Peter's injuries. What he might need when he woke up. If there was anything they could do now. He had thought about what caused the injuries too. He knew Steve had seen the accident report. "He tried to stop the car, didn't he? He knew it was coming and he tried to stop it. From inside the car."

Steve nodded. "That's my guess. The other car hit them on May's side." Steve sighed. "From inside the car, he didn't have the leverage to stop it completely. It explains why both arms were broken. I think the cars spun too. There was damage to the front. From where he was, the steering wheel was driven into him causing all of the damage to his right side." He looked over at Tony. "May would have died on impact if he hadn't done it."

Tony sighed and looked down. Peter would do it again in a heartbeat.

XXXXXXXXX

Tony felt a hand on his shoulder and he jerked awake. He looked up at Pepper who leaned over and hugged him, kissing him on the cheek. 

She sat down next him in silence. There was no point in asking how Peter was. Helen and Tony had both told her when she talked to them on the flight back that Peter was going to be unconscious for a while. There was no point in asking how Tony was because she knew how he was. He was worried about Peter and he was frustrated because he couldn't do anything.

"You said something about lawyers earlier. I wasn't paying attention." He looked over at her sheepishly. "Sorry."

Pepper smiled. "They're working on the paperwork for us to have legally named guardians until all of this gets figured out. Dr. Cho is also in contact with the hospital about when they'll be able to transfer May to the compound. And, I have an appointment next week with Peter's principal."

Tony chuckled. "You have been busy."

"Tony, I was stuck on a plane for 6 hours." Pepper sighed and looked at Peter. "I had to do something and that was my only real option."

Tony leaned over and kissed Pepper. "I love you. Why don't you head upstairs and get some sleep."

Pepper stood up. "You have 24 hours. 24 hours of staking out his hospital room before we work out some kind of schedule. I get that you don't want him to be alone but you will not sleep in a chair for a week. He is going to need you when he wakes up and you're not going to be able to do it because you're exhausted."

Tony nodded and looked back at Peter. She was right. No one, including Dr. Cho knew what to expect with Peter when he woke up.


	3. Awake

Bucky looked up at Steve. "What day is it?"

"Saturday." Any other time, Steve would have found the question odd, but it hadn't been a good week and none of them had normal schedules. Steve was pretty sure Bucky had slept at least a couple nights in the hall outside Peter's room in the medical wing.

Bucky stood up. "You need to come with me." Bucky headed out of MedBay leaving Steve trailing in his wake.

"Come where? Bucky, what's wrong?"

Distracted, Bucky paused and turned. "You'll need your shield and probably your uniform."

"Bucky, stop." Steve stopped in the hallway, refusing to move until Bucky told him what he was worried about and why he needed his shield to deal with it.

Bucky turned around and pulled Steve over to the side. "Ok, look, you have to promise you won't say anything. I don't know why he doesn't want anyone to know but he doesn't. Tony probably already knows because I'm not sure there's anything Tony doesn't know about Peter, but still, he doesn't want me to say anything to anyone."

"Still not clear...at all." Steve was beginning to think Bucky was spending way too much time with Peter. Either that or Bucky felt like someone had to fill the void of too many words squeezed in too small of a space.

Bucky took a deep breath. "You know that nurse I've gone out with a couple times?"

Steve nodded, still not sure what it had to do with his shield or Peter.

"She works at the Children's Hospital. I met her when I drove Peter over there that Saturday when it was raining."

Steve was still incredibly confused. "Why were you and Peter at a Children's Hospital?" Neither one of them had said anything about an incident that morning.

"That's what he does Saturday mornings when he's in the city. He goes to the Children's Hospital and visits with the kids. He's amazing with them. I started going with him because that first day, there was this kid that had his lower arm amputated...". Bucky didn't think he could explain to Steve why he kept going back.

Steve started to put he pieces together. "This is a Saturday he's supposed to be in the city."

Bucky nodded. "I can't tell them Spider-Man can't visit him because he's unconscious in a hospital bed. But Captain America can take his place. They'll probably be a little disappointed that you won't walk on the ceiling, but...". Bucky looked at Steve with a grin. He knew Steve would go now that he knew. And he couldn't help but to tease him a little bit now.

XXXXXXXXXX

Dr. Cho walked in, expecting to see Tony in his normal chair, found Natasha with her legs curled up speaking Russian to Peter.

She switched to English, "Dr. Cho just came in. She probably wants to see how you're doing."

Dr. Cho shook her head and walked over and inspected Peter's head. The wound was healing. She was guessing that by the time Peter woke up it would be completely healed. "If you see Tony, tell him I'm going to take him down to imaging later on today. I want to see how his arms are doing. If we're guessing right on how the spider will triage the wounds it'll heal his skull first, then ribs, then arms, then soft tissue. His nervous system is the wild card. Any other time that he's been hurt he hasn't really done any significant damage to his nerves so I don't have a baseline."

Natasha nodded. "You're worried about his nervous system?"

Dr. Cho shrugged. "There's some testing we can do but a lot of it is going to be dependent on him. If he hadn't had that sensory issue a month ago I wouldn't be as worried."

"Is everything ready for May's arrival tomorrow's?"

Dr. Cho nodded, "Dr. Strange is working with some doctors in Germany to come up with a treatment plan. They used his original research and have had some success in regrowing nerves in non-enhanced individuals."

"I will let Tony know. He'll probably want to be there when you take him to imaging."

XXXXXXXXXX

Tony watched as Peter's arms and chest were x-rayed. The images popped up on the screen. Dr. Cho started enlarging various views to look at the bones.

"His ribs look ok. They're not 100% yet but they're further along than his arms are. I want to keep him in the braces until they're healed further. I may bump the nutrients and see if that'll speed this up a little bit. He didn't like the sling. He's going to hate the braces on his arms."

"Do you still think he'll wake up sometime this week?"

Dr. Cho nodded. "If we were betting on it, I'd say Wednesday. But, he's an overachiever so it wouldn't surprise me if it was earlier."

XXXXXXXXXX

Pepper walked into Peter's hospital room and found Tony in the same chair. He had agreed that he wouldn't stay in MedBay so between all of them they had worked out a schedule. They had moved a more comfortable sofa into the room for whoever spent the night to sleep on. During the day it wasn't unusual to find various Avengers in the room either talking to the unconscious Peter or simply reading or on occasion watching TV. Tony generally made use of the time. She smiled when she heard him talking to Peter.

"Pepper and I are going to meet with your principal. Apparently you missed class selections for the fall so now I get to pick your classes. You know I probably shouldn't be trusted with this so you might want to wake up and tell me what classes you want to take." Tony sighed when he didn't get a response. He glanced over at Pepper. "May talked to Mrs. Leeds so I know what Ned is taking. MJ texted me her schedule too. I'll see what I can do with your schedule."

"Are you ready? Happy brought the car around to this entrance so we can leave from here." Pepper stepped to the side as one of the nurses walked in. They had timed their absence from the compound to coincide with the couple hours the nurses and Dr. Cho took to work with Peter. If he and Pepper weren't back by the time they were done Natasha was going to get the debrief from Dr. Cho and then relay information to Tony upon his return. They had a good system in place. Most of it had already been planned out before Tony had even brought up needing a system. They saw Peter as one of their own and it's just what they did.

Happy pulled up to the curb and dropped Pepper and Tony off. Their meeting with Principal Morita was scheduled for after school. Tony had already texted MJ and Ned to tell them they would be there so they had waited after school.

"MJ and Ned. I want to show you something. Maybe it'll help you believe me when I say he's getting better." He pulled out his phone and opened a picture that he had taken of Peter's monitors before he and Pepper had left. "Don't look at Peter. Peter still looks like crap. Look at his monitors. His monitors are showing increased brain activity that Dr. Cho swears to me means that he should be waking up in a couple days. So, here's the deal. As soon as he's awake I will let you know. As soon as he's up for visitors, one of us will come get you." He looked at the two teens hoping they would accept the evidence he was offering them. He knew they both wanted to see Peter but sitting in his hospital room wasn't going to do them any good. He had texted them updates every morning but that hadn't stopped the influx of texts during the day. He suspected both of them had gotten their phones confiscated at least once for texting in class.

Pepper hugged MJ and Ned. "We're going to be late for our meeting. We promise that you will know when he wakes up."

Pepper and Tony made there way to the office. Scheduling the meeting for after school provided them a little more privacy but there were still kids milling around the school. Principle Morita was waiting for them and ushered them into his office immediately. "How is Peter?"

Pepper sat down in the chair across from Principal Morita and pulled Tony down next to her. "He's still unconscious but his doctors tell us that's to be expected. They're anticipating that he'll wake up this week. I believe you talked to May this morning?"

Principal Morita nodded, "She seemed to be in good spirits. She said that she had given you both emergency custody of Peter."

Pepper pulled an envelope out of her purse and handed it to Principal Morita. "For your files. We would appreciate it if this remains confidential. We don't want Peter negatively impacted. Our positions on occasion make us fodder for reporters."

Tony smiled inwardly. He was immensely grateful Pepper was taking the lead. She was so artful in her delivery it was truly amazing.

"I completely understand. Student files are confidential but I will go a step further and simply lock this away and not put it into our system. Mr. Stark, I believe you are already listed as Peter's emergency contact so there's really no need to change anything else." He paused and cleared his throat, "We do need to get his schedule set for the fall. We can make changes in September if we need to but we try to get everything lined up now so we can plan. May said you have some of the information." He hesitated briefly before continuing. "Peter will be starting his junior year and I have some recommendations I would like to make."

Tony perked up, the fact that Morita had hesitated interested him. "Please do. I have some thoughts of my own but I'd like to hear yours."

"Peter is extraordinarily gifted as I'm sure you know. May has always pushed back on moving him into even more advanced classes which made sense to a certain point. But, junior year is when colleges start looking at grades and I think he would do well with dual enrollment."

Tony almost laughed out loud. This was pretty much the same conversation he had just had with May. "I couldn't agree more. He's bored in most of his science classes."

Principal Morita breathed a sigh of relief. "We're working with a couple of the local colleges to come here instead of the kids going there. The idea is the get their core classes out of the way their junior and senior year so they're focused on their major specific classes when they start at the school of their choice. Peter shouldn't be overloaded because quite honestly we're running out of science classes for him to take."

Pepper looked between Tony and Principal Morita. She had been a little concerned about Tony behaving himself but he was actually enjoying himself. "Principal Morita, If you need any help convincing anyone let us know." Now she was worried that she was going to have to reign him in.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tony settled on the couch. He had strategically put himself on the schedule to spend the night in Peter's room tonight. Peter had been moving around more during the day. Dr. Cho thought he'd still be out another day but Tony thought otherwise. And, if Peter was going to wake up, he wanted to make sure he was there.

Peter was increasingly restless as the night went on. Even if Tony was tired there's no way he could have slept. He shifted over to the chair next to the bed and leaned forward. "Come on kid, you've been asleep way too long. Dr. Cho said you might heal faster if you had some solid food which you can't do while you're asleep. Plus, May wants you to come see her." He saw Peter turn his head slightly. Standing he leaned over and pushed his hair back. "Come on Pete." Peter pressed his head against Tony's hand bringing a smile to his face. "Pete. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

Peter pressed his face against the warm hand and turned toward the voice that always meant he was safe and opened his eyes.


	4. Working Towards Normal

Dr. Cho walked into Peter's room. She was somewhat surprised to find the lights still dimmed. "Still having problems with light?" Peter had been awake for just over 24 hours and had slept through most of them. She glanced over at Tony who had become a fixture at this point.

Peter shrugged. "Light is ok for a little while then it starts to give me a headache." His voice was still a little horse from not being used for so long but he sounded better than she expected him to.

"Dr. Strange wants to come by today and look at you." She glanced over at Tony to get his approval.

"Any testing? X-Rays and visiting May yesterday took it out of him." Tony scooted forward in his chair. He knew he was being over protective but so far Peter wasn't pushing back.

"I don't think so, but I'll check." She turned back to Peter. "We're going to unhook you from everything but monitors this morning. I'll leave the oxygen available but I'd prefer for you to come off of it. You don't need it but it's sometimes hard to give up when you've been on it so long."

Peter have a half smile. He would be glad to get rid of all of the wires and tubes. "How about the braces?"

Dr. Cho shook her head. "I need the bones to completely fuse before taking them off. You're probably looking at another couple days at least." She glanced over at Tony. "The room is going to get crowded with everyone unhooking him. You can come back in when they're done."

Tony saw the nurses at the door and grudgingly stood up. "I'll be in the hallway if you need me."

Once in the hallway, Dr. Cho nodded further down the hall. Once a decent ways away from Peter's room she turned and looked at Tony. "I'm concerned about his inability to tolerate light."

Tony shook his head. "It's not just light. It's everything. Light and sound are triggering when he gets frustrated but touch randomly sets him off too. I was helping him shift in his bed earlier. He said it hit him out of nowhere and felt like every inch of his skin was on fire."

Dr. Cho sighed. "That's why I want Strange to see him. I'll set it up."

XXXXXXXXXX

Dr. Strange sat on the other side of Dr. Cho's desk studying Peter's medical records. He looked across the desk at Dr. Cho. "His nerves are regrowing. It's not a fun process but I don't think he'd like the alternative either."

"Can't you wave a magic wand or something?" Tony glared down at the man from where he was perched on the side of the desk.

The sarcasm from Stark was not lost on Dr. Strange. Dr. Cho had warned him repeatedly to let him slide but it was getting annoying. He let out an exasperated sigh. "No, I cannot wave a magic wand. I also don't think running any tests on him is a good idea."

Dr. Cho knitted her brows in confusion. "Wouldn't a conductivity or a velocity test help narrow down the issues?"

Tony and Dr. Strange shook their heads simultaneously. Tony spoke up first. "Those tests all utilize electricity. I don't think he would tolerate it well for starters. I'm also not entirely sure how the spider would react."

Strange stared at Tony, "He's correct." Tony Stark was an interesting individual. Annoying, but interesting.

Dr. Cho leaned back, "Then what do we do?"

"Neither one of you is going to like the answer. We're going to have to wait it out. His body's ability to regenerate flies in the face of everything we know about nerve growth." Dr. Strange stood up and looked between Stark and Dr. Cho. "Deal with his sensory overload as best you can but remember that it's like a muscle. It only grows stronger if it's stressed. You should see things get better, even if it's in small increments." An orange portal opened and Dr. Strange paused before walking through it. "Call me if you have any serious problems."

Tony and Dr. Cho watched the portal close. Tony looked over at Helen. "Well that was less than helpful."

Helen shrugged. "It's better than nothing. So, we build up his tolerance to sensory stimuli. He'll need a buffer area. His room is set up to deal with sensory overload, right?"

Tony nodded. "I added the protocol after the incident last month."

Dr. Cho closed Peter's file on her tablet. "I wanted to try to wait until the braces were off and he was back on a semi normal sleep schedule before releasing him but we can move him earlier if we need to."

XXXXXXXXXX

Peter walked into the bathroom that adjoined his hospital room. The braces sucked. It made everything difficult. Finally accomplishing the small task of relieving his bladder he stood in front of the mirror. It was really the first time he had seen himself. The scar on his head was healing. His curls flopped into his eyes so he shoved them back clumsily with a braced hand only to have them flop back down. He growled at the mirror and tried to push them back again only to have them flop back down. He heard Tony walk into the bathroom behind him. He looked at him in the mirror. "Can you just shave it all off?"

"Seriously?" Tony stepped closer to Peter and tried to help push his hair back only to have it flop forward again.

"Seriously. I can't deal with this." Any other time it might have been comical but now Peter was just getting more and more frustrated. He glanced up at the lights. "FRIDAY, reduce lights to 50%."

Tony frowned, Peter's sensitivity was getting worse not better. "Back in bed. I'll find something to take care of your hair this afternoon."

XXXXXXXXXX

Natasha walked into Peter's room and froze at the door. "What...!?" She gestured to Peter.

Tony leaned forward and paused the movie that was playing. "It was annoying him so we cut it."

Natasha walked over and brushed her fingers across Peter's head. The short hair was soft and velvety but she preferred the curls he always tried to hide. "Hmm...how are you feeling?"

Peter shrugged. "Ok. But I officially hate braces." He held up both arms in emphasis.

"It's only for another couple days, right?" Natasha looked between Tony and Peter for confirmation. Peter shrugged and Tony held his hands up in a 'who knows gesture'. Natasha rolled her eyes at the two. "Peter, do you feel up for company tomorrow? I thought I could pick up Ned and MJ after school. Maybe we can break you out of here for a little while."

Peter smiled. "Yeah! Definitely." He looked over at Mr. Stark, "Think she'll let me out of them long enough to eat?" Peter knew he was hoping for a lot but the last thing he wanted to do was try to eat in front of people with the braces on and, if MJ and Ned were coming after school they pretty much had to stay for dinner. If they didn't, they'd have to turn around and go home five minutes after they got here.

"It'll probably take another round of x-rays to see how they're doing, but, maybe we can talk her into it."

XXXXXXXXXX

Pepper glanced up at the teens sitting on either side of Peter. "He seems to be doing ok, right?"

Tony followed her glance. "I think so. You have to help me get the braces back on him after dinner. I'm envisioning him making a run for it."

Pepper laughed. "He promised. It'll be fine." She picked up the bowl of fruit and walked to the table. Scooping some out onto Peter's plate she turned and put some on MJ and Ned's plates too. Tony followed her with boxes of pizza. They had spent an abnormal amount of time planning a meal for three teens. Pepper really hadn't wanted to do pizza. Tony and Peter ate so much of it that she generally fought against it any other time but everything else they came up with was dismissed because they thought Peter might struggle to eat it. He had full mobility in both hands but being immobilized for almost two weeks had made him way less coordinated than he usually was. So pizza it was.

Bringing MJ and Ned up had been a great idea. Seeing them had put Peter in a good mood. Tony mentally noted to try to get at least one of them up to the compound every couple days. It was also exhausting Peter. He really only lasted about an hour after dinner. Tony noticed the smile starting to slip from Peter's face and he wasn't participating in the conversation as much as he had earlier. "Ok, I think we need to bring this party to a close." He didn't miss the grateful look from Peter. He also didn't miss Peter tense when MJ leaned over and hugged him. Pepper walked them out to meet Happy who was going to drive them home.

The elevator doors slid shut and Tony turned around to find Peter crouched on the floor. "You're sleeping up here tonight." He leaned over and pulled Peter up, careful to avoid the still unbraced arms.

Peter let Tony push him towards his bedroom and onto his bed. Surely he could change by himself, right?

"I'm going to let Helen know and then I'll come back in to check on you."

Peter nodded and waited for the door to close before pulling his shirt gingerly over his head. "FRIDAY, lights at 50%." The lights dimmed and he managed to get into the pajama pants and t-shirt Mr. Stark had tossed to him. He was walking out of the bathroom after brushing his teeth when Mr. Stark walked back in. "Everything hurts. It's like it's alternating between being on fire and tingling."

Tony nodded. "It's just the nerves regrowing. I know it sucks kiddo." Tony knew there was zero chance he was getting the braces on with Peter's skin feeling the way it was right now. He pulled a watch out of his pocket and held it up. "I'll leave the braces off but I need you monitored if you're staying up here."

Peter looked at the watch. He knew it wasn't his original one because it had been destroyed. "You made me a new watch?"

Tony sat on the bed next to Peter and started fastening it on his wrist. "Of course I did." He stood up a Peter stretched out in bed. "Call me if you need me." He opened the door and turned around to make sure Peter was in bed. "FRIDAY, Blackout Protocol. Night Pete."

XXXXXXXXXX

Peter woke up and stared at the ceiling. Even in complete blackout he could still see a little bit of detail. It wasn't overwhelming though. "FRIDAY, what time is it?" He expected her to say something along the lines of '4am'. She didn't.

"It's 9:30 pm. You have been asleep for less than 2 hours."

Peter groaned. His skin still hurt. Usually when he woke up he felt much better. He also usually slept longer. He still felt exhausted. Lying in bed wasn't helping.

XXXXXXXXXX

"Boss, Peter has been awake for 45 minutes."

Tony got up from the couch. FRIDAY wasn't programmed to tell him when Peter woke up so the fact the she told him he was awake was almost as bothersome as the fact that Peter was awake this soon after going to sleep. Walking down the hall he opened Peter's door. "Pete?"

"Yeah."

Tony looked up as he told FRIDAY to bring the lights up 5%. "Kid, what are you doing?" Peter was standing on the ceiling. "Please tell me you didn't do anything to hurt your arms."

Peter dropped down off the ceiling. "Of course not. I just walked up the wall. I can't sleep and this room, as large as it is, gets really small when you're pacing."

Tony sighed. "FRIDAY, tell Dr. Cho Pete is having problems sleeping and ask her to come up here." He looked at Peter, "Still having sensory problems?"

Peter nodded. "Light and sound but it's just a dull headache. Nerve endings aren't quite as bad. I just want to sleep though."

Dr. Cho appeared at the door. "Your sleep schedule is fairly messed up right now. I'm on the fence about this but I think giving you something to help you sleep tonight might help jumpstart your sleep cycles." She pulled a pill bottle out and handed it to Tony. "It's high doses of melatonin with a time release component that will work with his system. Non-addictive but it's still not something he needs to take on a regular basis. Let's try it and see how it goes."

Tony frowned, because of his own history he wasn't fond of the idea of Pete taking anything but also realized that Pete wasn't him. And, melatonin was fairly harmless. He looked over at Peter to gauge his reaction.

"I'm all for trying anything. I want to sleep."

Tony dumped a pill out, handed it to Peter, then returned the bottle to Dr. Cho.

XXXXXXXXXX

Peter woke up the next morning and looked around his room. FRIDAY had disengaged blackout mode last night so he could see slivers of daylight through his curtains. He felt good. His head didn't hurt and his nerve ending didn't feel like they were threatening to burst into flames. Maybe he was finally working his way towards normal


	5. Crawling In My Skin

"Peter, I understand that Blackout Mode means that you don't get overloaded and that it doesn't hurt, but the only way your nerves are going to heal are for them to actually be exposed to input." Dr. Cho looked at her patient. None of them expected Peter's recovery to be easy but they didn't anticipate it being this hard either. He had gone from being ok to hiding in his cave of a room in less than a week.

"You don't understand!" Peter got up from the exam table and started pacing. "It's too much. Too much sound. Too much light. My skin alternates between feeling like it's on fire to feeling like something crawling on it to nothing. Everyone has always said that sleep is how I heal. I need to sleep."

"Peter. Sleep is not the answer here. Yes, sleep gives your body energy to heal itself but so does food. You don't look like you're eating." Peter had never been a great patient but he was exceeding even Tony at this point when it came to not listening to doctors.

Peter got defensive. "I'm eating." He knew as it was coming out of his mouth that it was a lie. He wasn't eating. He didn't feel like eating.

"I'm limiting the time you're allowed in Blackout Mode." Dr. Cho had already told FRIDAY to limit Peter, she just hadn't passed the message on to him yet.

"You can't do that! I can barely sleep when I have it in blackout mode. If you take it away from me I won't be able to sleep at all." Peter clinched his fists at his side.

"Peter, you can. And you will. I will allow you to continue taking melatonin but right now I want you to go back upstairs and eat something. At this point I don't care what it is." Dr. Cho needed to talk to Tony. His kid was starting to worry her. "Let Tony help you."

"I don't need help. I need to sleep." Peter slammed the door of the exam room as he left. Skipping the elevator he ran up the stairs to his floor. He knew Pepper was on the west coast and Mr. Stark was down a floor talking to Natasha and Steve about some of the ops the team had been involved in the last couple weeks. Ops that hadn't included Peter or Mr. Stark. Instead of heading to the kitchen he went straight to his bedroom.

XXXXXXXXXX

Dr. Cho stepped out the elevator onto the floor the Avengers occupied. She saw Tony standing in the common area with Natasha and Steve.

He looked up when he saw her and he was pretty sure she had just seen Peter judging by the look on her face. "Let me guess, he didn't take it well?"

"No. Although I think you were probably right in thinking he would have blown up more if you had been there."

Tony ran his hand over his face and looked at Steve and Natasha. "Any idea how to deal with a stubborn teenager who hurts but can't actually take anything to help it and it makes him cranky?"

Steve shook his head. "Way outside my expertise."

"Clint could probably weigh in on the stubborn teenager side but the rest of it is new territory for all of us." Natasha hated that Peter was in pain and none of them could fix it. She knew Tony was taking it the hardest.

XXXXXXXXXX

Peter stared at the ceiling of his room. He couldn't figure out why he felt the way he did. He should be healed by now. Even after the Vulture incident he was fine after a few days. Now, two weeks later he couldn't sleep, he couldn't eat, and he hurt. He knew he was tough. There was a lot he could withstand. Why couldn't he deal with this. Just suck it up, deal with it, and move on. He had moments when he felt fine. Then, something would send one of senses reeling and he'd find himself in his bedroom in Blackout Mode until he felt better. And now, they wanted to take that brief reprieve away from him. Standing up he walked into the bathroom. Picking up the bottle of Spider formulated melatonin he twisted the cap off and dumped a couple out. If one let him sleep in Blackout Mode, maybe two would let him sleep without it. Dr. Cho has said it wasn't addictive and he knew it was something that the body produced on its own anyway. A couple wouldn't hurt, right? Throwing them into his mouth he swallowed them and crawled into bed to sleep off the latest round of feeling bad.

XXXXXXXXXX

Peter woke up feeling slightly better but not great. Glancing at his watch he realized he had only been asleep for a couple hours. Apparently more helped him go to sleep but not stay asleep. He kicked the covers off and headed toward the kitchen. He was actually a little hungry. He didn't want a ton of food or anything hard to eat. His right hand still ached a little bit. The bones were healed but the soft tissue was still healing. Eating was just hard sometimes. He grabbed a banana off the counter and ate it while he looked through the refrigerator for something easy.

"Want me to fix you some eggs or something? Pancakes?" Tony walked into the kitchen and stopped when Peter tensed up and shut the refrigerator door.

"I don't need help." Peter grabbed a glass out of the cabinet and filled it with water. Finishing it he put it in the sink and glanced at Tony.

"I'm just offering to make scrambled eggs." Dealing with Peter the last couple days was like walking on eggshells. "You need to eat more than a banana."

"I'm fine."

"Pete, you're not fine. Let me help you. Sit down and I'll fix something you can eat. We can order pizza if you'd rather have that." Tony knew what the result was going to be before the words were out of his mouth.

Peter pushed himself off the counter. "I'm fine. I don't need help." He walked past Mr. Stark and headed for his bedroom. When he got there he slammed his bedroom door. "FRIDAY, Blackout Protocol."

"Peter, you are approaching your allotted time in Blackout Mode for the day. We could try Sleeping Baby and see if it's enough."

Just what he needed. One more person who thought they knew what was best for him. "FRIDAY, Blackout. Now."

His room turned pitch black and all of the sounds he could hear vanished. The problem with Blackout mode was that he could still see.

FRIDAY'S voice was quiet. "Peter, you have 30 minutes remaining of Blackout Mode."

Peter unconsciously launched himself into the corner nearest him and punched the ceiling where he knew one of FRIDAY'S sensors was housed. Wrapping his hand around it, he yanked it out, disconnecting it from the main network. Leaping to the next corner he repeated the motion. Two down, two to go. He knew the other two weren't connected to the network and were just piggybacked off of the main two so if the alarm hadn't sounded he was in the clear. Maybe now he could rest. He dropped to the floor after ripping the fourth one out, landing in a crouch. Ducking his head down he thought it would be enough. That his skin would stop feeling like it was on fire. That his head would stop hurting. It wasn't. It wasn't nearly enough.

Rising he headed towards his bathroom and pushed the door open. Grabbing the pills off the counter he twisted the cap off and dumped the contents of the bottle into his hand. It wasn't going to be enough. He hurled the bottle against the wall and threw the pills into his mouth and swallowed. Turning on the water he splashed some into his mouth to chase the pills down. Gripping the counter top and looked into the mirror. He didn't recognize the face that stared back at him. Gone were the curls he always tried so hard to hide. The scar on the side of his head had all but faded. He didn't like the person in the mirror. He just didn't know what to do about it. He couldn't fix it on his own. He should be stronger. He should be able to handle this. But he couldn’t. The face staring back at him couldn’t handle anything. And he couldn't look at him anymore. He reared his fist back and hit the mirror smashing it to a million pieces. He looked back up and saw his reflection in the few pieces still attached to the wall. "Shut up." Pushing back he walked out of the bathroom, closed the door, and crawled into bed pulling the covered over his head.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Tony walked into Peter's pitch black room. "FRIDAY, lights at 2%". The last thing he wanted to do was wake Peter but he needed to check on him. His watch wasn't transmitting his vitals. He figured Peter hadn't put it back on after taking a shower earlier today. He glanced up at the ceiling when the lights didn't respond. "FRIDAY?" Pulling his phone out of his pocket he resorted to the flashlight. Flashing it first at the bed he caught sight of the lump he knew was Peter. Crossing the room he sat gently on the bed. Peter had the covers pulled over his head, fingers clasped around the edges of the comforter. He glanced over at the nightstand and picked up the watch. Sliding the band around Peter's wrist he fastened it and waited for the bio-metric data to show up on his own watch. He then glanced down at the hand that was still clinched around the covers. He could see red streaks across Peter's knuckles. He gently touched the healing cuts. Any other time Peter would have jerked awake. Hell, any other time Peter would have woken up the second Tony had entered the room. 

He flashed the light to the corners of the room where FRIDAY'S sensors were. Large holes were punched into the ceiling, wiring hanging out. Tony looked back down at Peter's hand. Drywall wouldn't have caused the damage that was slowly healing on Peter's hand. Standing up he walked into the bathroom and shut the door. Turning on the light he immediately knew where the cuts had come from. Shards from the bathroom mirror littered the floor. A pill bottle caught his eye, laying in the corner of the room. Picking it up, he knew instantly from the weight it was empty. Sliding it into his pocket he glanced down at his watch again to make sure Peter's bio-metric data was transmitting. Turning off the light he opened the bathroom door and walked back over to the bed. Tugging the covers down he looked at Peter's sleeping face. He had seen Peter asleep enough to know when he was okay. He was far from ok. His face was tightened in what Tony could only describe as anguish.

XXXXXXXXXX

Clint paused as he was passing one of the corridors. Backing up, he saw Tony sitting on the floor, back against the wall outside of the MedBay. Frowning, he made his way down the hall until he was standing next to Tony and slid down the wall until he was seated next to him.

Tony held the pill bottle up. "Where do you lock up pills when the person you're hiding them from is strong enough to break through all of your options."

Clint took the bottle out of Tony's hand. "How many did he take."

"Well, that bottle had 50 pills in it Sunday. It's Wednesday." Tony pushed his head back against the wall.

Clint whistled. "Where is he now?"

"Asleep". Tony held up his watch. "I'm monitoring his biometrics." He rubbed his hand over his face. "Oh, he also tore FRIDAY out of his room."

Clint sat in silence next to his friend. He had no words of wisdom, one father to another. Peter was a mess. They all knew it. None of them knew what to do about it. And Clint knew it was killing Tony. Breaking the silence he looked over at Tony. "You remove him from the temptation."

"Yeah, I've thought of that. Short of buying a deserted island I can't figure out where to go that is low sensory enough where he won't have a problem."

Clint leaned forward. "I have the perfect place. When I was under house arrest, Laura got tired of me being in the house. So I built a cabin."

Tony looked over at Clint. "You built a cabin?"

Clint grinned. "It's not the Four Seasons but it's got a kitchen, two bedrooms, indoor plumbing. And if Spider-Kid trashes it I know you're good for the repairs." Clint could tell Tony was still skeptical. "Look, it's a couple miles from the main house so I'll be close enough if you need help but if he wants to yell and hit things the only things that will hear him will be the deer." Clint waited for Tony to take in what he was saying. "He needs to decompress. His senses are all over the place. You've said it's the one aspect of the spider he has the most problems with. His nervous system took a big hit. He need quiet and he needs you."

Tony leaned back against the wall again. He had plenty of self doubt as to whether he was enough to help Peter through this. But he also knew he had to do something


	6. Broken

Peter walked up the ramp of the jet. Mr Stark was being weird. He couldn't figure it out. But then again, he had been asleep for 24 hours and was still a little groggy. He had hoped he would feel better, and he did, a little. But he had no idea where they were going. He and Mr. Stark had eaten breakfast, although maybe it was more like brunch. Unless he actually looked at his watch he really didn't know what time of day it was anymore. After they had finished eating Mr. Stark had taken him to the hanger.

Sitting in one of the seats, Peter watched Mr. Stark checked the cockpit and returned to the cabin. He sat in the seat across from Peter. "Happy's not flying?"

"Nope, just you and me kid." Tony studied Peter. He hoped he was doing the right thing.

"Where are we going?" Peter looked out the window as the plane took off. Other than the Quinjet, flying to Germany on one of Mr. Stark's other planes was really the only other time he had flown. It was fun to watch the runway speed by and then feel the drop in his stomach as they lifted off.

"We are getting a change of scenery. Thought it might do both of us some good." Tony continued watching Peter look out the window. Right now Peter looked like the kid Tony knew he was. The one he was hoping to find on this trip. He missed hanging out with him and he had figured out quickly that he hated fighting with him.

Peter pulled his gaze away from the window. "You didn't answer the question. Where are we going?"

"Missouri."

Peter stared at Mr. Stark. Missouri was not the answer he was expecting. "What's in Missouri?"

"Hopefully a whole lot of nothingness." Tony leaned forward. "You need a reset. Away from everything."

Peter looked down and pursed his lips. He didn't know how to respond. He knew Mr. Stark wanted what was best for him and he knew he hadn't been the easiest to be around lately. He could also feel himself getting frustrated at being treated like a child. "So what, you're putting me in time out? In Missouri?"

"Pete, you've got to work with me at least a little."

Peter turned and stared out the window. He had an hour of uncomfortable silence until they landed at his prison for the week.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tony waited for Peter to walk down the ramp. He was more than a little worried that he would have just stayed in the seat and refused to budge if he hadn't. Steve, Sam, Bucky, and Natasha had stocked the cabin while Peter had slept everything off. They had also put in some security measures. Tony really didn't know what to expect with Peter. And that thought almost broke him.

Peter stopped halfway between the plane and the cabin and turned to look at Mr. Stark.

"It's Clint's. He owns about 100 acres. The main house is a couple miles away." Tony couldn't tell what was going through Peter's head. He turned and watched the jet take off leaving the two of them alone in an expanse if nothing but fields, some trees, and a cabin. He walked past Peter and up the stairs of the cabin. Pushing open the door he walked inside.

Peter trudged up the stairs and followed Mr. Stark into the cabin shutting the door behind him.

Tony poked his head into all of the rooms. Looking back he pointed Peter toward the room where the rest of the team had deposited his bags. Tony found his own bag on the bed with a note from Natasha on top. _Good Luck. Let us know if you need anything._

Tony explored the rest of the cabin, small as it was. Peter had entered his bedroom and had not come back out. A couple hours after they had gotten there Tony started dinner. He was determined by the end of the week Peter would be back on a normal schedule.

Tony thought it would have been harder to get Peter out of the bedroom to eat dinner but the kid surprised him and came out as Tony was dishing food out on plates. And dinner wasn't a horrible experience. Peter actually carried on a conversation which surprised the hell out of Tony.

Peter sat back down after cleaning up the dishes. Mr. Stark couldn't accuse him of not making an effort. He looked at his mentor and tried to figure out what his plan was.

Tony could see the wheels turning in Peter's head. He didn't know what to expect. Tony thought they should get the rough part out of the way so they could move forward. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the empty pill bottle and set it on the table.

Peter took one look at the bottle on the table, pushed his chair back and retreated to his bedroom.

XXXXXXXXXX

Tony startled awake and felt Peter more than saw or heard him. He had a vague though of some comedy he had seen where the kids crept into the parents room and stood by the parents' bed, scaring the crap out of them when they woke up. "Pete? What's wrong." Tony started to get up but paused when he realized Peter was sitting on the floor leaning against the bed.

"Don't. Just let me talk." Peter wrapped his arms around his knees and he felt Mr. Stark relax back on the bed behind him. "You know, everyone has always asked me why I call you Mr. Stark. Why I don't call you Tony." Peter paused, trying to work up to what he wanted to say. "If I call you Tony...". Peter's voice caught a little bit, "If I call you Tony it means that you're more than just my mentor. And if you're more than just my mentor...". Peter wiped a stray tear from his cheek. "I don't think I could handle losing you. It would break me. So you've stayed Mr. Stark." Peter sucked in a breath and almost laughed, "But, it turns out I'm already broken." Putting his head on his arms he whispered "I can't do this by myself. I don't know how to get better."

Tony took a deep breath and tried to piece together what Peter was saying. He sat up and slid down to the floor next to Peter. Wrapping an arm around his shoulder he pulled him closer. "Pete, you don't have to do any of this alone. Ever. I'd offer to give up Iron Man but I think recent events have illustrated that the superhero life isn't the only danger." He felt Peter shift next to him. "You may be a little bit broken right now but, honestly, who isn't. You don't have to do any if it by yourself. We can get you better. Together." Tony thought through everything Peter had unloaded. A couple things were starting to make sense. Peter's sensory issues lately generally started when he got frustrated. The worse he felt the more frustrated he got. He had spiraled completely out of control in the last week. He got frustrated because he wouldn't let anyone help him. Tony thought it was just Peter's independent streak and that it came from trying to prove he could keep up with the adults. He was so wrong. He knew Peter had issues with his uncles' death and had known that Peter saw him as a father figure. Tony knew that he had slipped into the role despite neither of them intending for it to happen. Tony realized it was exactly where he wanted to be. Where he should be. Where he belonged. And maybe Peter was starting to realize it too.


	7. Little Cabin In The Woods

Tony finally convinced Peter to move from the bedroom floor to the living room. They talked, really talked, most of the night. So much for getting the kid back on a schedule. But, Tony wouldn't have traded it for anything. He remembered Peter falling asleep on the couch. Tony woke up in the chair in the living room so he logically reasoned he probably fell asleep shortly after. His eyes immediately went to the last place he saw Peter. The blanket Peter had curled up with had been tossed over the back of the couch. Tony's eyes darted around the small room. "Pete?" Panic set in. He glanced at his watch. One of the security measured Nat had put into place was an alarm to his watch if someone broke the plane of the bottom step. No notification but then again, Peter didn't have to leave from the steps. He was perfectly capable of leaving via a window as well. He glanced down at his watch again as a message from Peter appeared. "On the porch". Relief spread through Tony as he crossed the short distance to the front door and opened it. "What are you doing?"

"Shush...Tony, you're going to scare them off."

In all honesty, Tony didn't hear anything after his name. He looked over at the figure sitting in a rocking chair with his feet propped up on the railing. He finally looked where Peter was pointing and saw a doe with two fawns in the field near the tree line. He looked from the deer back to Peter who was watching them with a youthful amazement. Tony walked over to the chair next to Peter and sat down.

"There are a couple rabbits about 50 yards that way that keep poking their heads out of the brush."

Tony looked to where Peter indicated just in time to see a brown rabbit hop from one side of the brush to the other. "It's a little different than the city isn't it? How long have you been up?"

Peter glanced down at his watch. "6ish".

Tony glanced down at his own watch. It was 8am now. "I'm going to make some coffee. Do you want anything?"

Peter turned and looked at Tony, "Did you bring any hot chocolate?"

"Of course I did." Tony stood up and headed back to the front door. He glanced back at Peter who had gone back to watching the deer eating. He was amazed that the kid was so mesmerized by deer, but it was definitely different than what he was used to. The last time Tony was at the Barton farm he had realized how peaceful it was. The long forgotten idea of building Pepper a farm and retiring popped back in his head. Life had gone from one disaster to another since then that he hadn't given the idea of a farm any more thought, but now it appealed to him even more. Somewhere Pepper could unwind and relax. Somewhere he could disappear to. And somewhere Pete could decompress. He opened the front door and stepped back inside as images ran through his brain of a cabin by a lake surrounded by woods. Miles away from everyone and everything.

XXXXXXXXXX

Peter glanced up as Tony handed him a mug of hot chocolate. It had become his equivalent of coffee that everyone he knew with the exception of Ned drank and he personally hated. "Thanks".

Tony sat back down in the chair next to Peter. "How are you feeling?"

Peter shrugged. "Ok. I woke up because my arm started stinging, but I think I just slept on it wrong. It stopped when I got up and started moving around."

"You should have gotten me up." Tony took a sip of his coffee. Even though last night had been a monumental breakthrough he wasn't naive enough to think there wasn't still work to be done.

Peter looked at Tony. "I would have if it hadn't stopped."

Tony knew the kid was trying. He was pleasantly surprised that in the light of day Pete hadn't put back up some of the wall they had torn down last night. "Breakfast should be ready in about 20 minutes."

After a while, Peter dropped his feet off the railing and shifted to look at Tony. "This was a good idea. It's quiet out here. I can see why Clint and his family live here."

"We didn't even know about it until we crashed here during the Ultron mess. There's something peaceful about being so far away from everything. I remember thinking at the time I should build Pepper a farm and give her a place to unwind. It went by the wayside with everything that came after, but being here is making me want to start looking at property." Tony stared out at the tree line then smiled and looked at Peter. "Of course you and I are going to need a little more technology available to us than what Clint has. Maybe a couple labs. You can help design everything." Tony's watch beeped. "Breakfast is ready. Come on." Tony stood up and headed back inside.

Peter smiled to himself and stood up. There was something comforting in the idea that Mr. Stark, no, he corrected himself, Tony's plans for the future included him. "What's for breakfast?"

"Some breakfast casserole from a place Pepper likes. I had a lot of planning to do in the 24 hours you slept. I went with the easiest options." Tony reached into the oven and pulled out the baking dish and set it on the stove. He filled up a plate for Peter and set it in front of him before fixing his own plate. "So how is it?"

Peter looked up with a forkful in his mouth. He nodded and swallowed. "It's good." Not eating great for almost two weeks had caught up with him and he was starving.

Tony laughed. "Eat spiderling. Your jeans are falling off of you. Pepper would have pitched a fit if she saw the way you look."

Peter was on his second plate when his hand started to tighten up. He dropped his fork awkwardly and flexed his hand which caused the nerve endings in his hand to flame up his arm. "Damn it." Standing he started pacing and rubbing his arm.

Tony stood up "Come here Underoos." Peter stopped in front of him. Tony wrapped both hands around Peter's arm and without squeezing too hard he applied even pressure. "Any better?"

"That's weird. It hurts but it's different. Better." Peter relaxed his arm a little. Every time the nerves flared up it sent his entire body into a tight ball of tension. Whatever Tony was doing was stopping him from tensing up.

"When you had the sensory issues a month or two ago you kept pushing my hand down on your shoulder on the way back to the compound. It reminded me that when you freaked out after the aliens..."

"I didn't freak out." Peter's tone was indignant even though he knew he had totally freaked out.

Tony got an amused look on his face, "you calmed down when I pressed down on your shoulders. I asked May about it and she said you've always preferred firmer pressure to lighter." Tony chuckled, "She told me a story from right after you came to live with her and Ben. It took them almost two weeks to figure out that you weren't going to sleep because she had been just lightly brushing her fingers over your back and you kept squirming. So apparently it's not so much spider related but Peter related." Tony noticed that Peter's mood shifted at the mention of May. "Is your arm calming down?" He waited for Peter to sit back down in his chair. "Talk to me kid."

Peter took a deep breath and tried to figure out how to verbalize everything that just started swirling around in his head. "May can't walk. Can't work. I don't know what to do with that, how to even start figuring out what that means." He looked up at Tony, who had made it abundantly clear last night that he wasn't going anywhere. But insecurity hit him like a tidal wave.

"Let's start with the basics." Tony waiting until he was sure Peter wasn't lost in his own head and was actually listening to what he was saying. "Pepper and I have temporary custody of you. Considering I effectively kidnapped you from the hospital Pepper did a masterful job of getting the legal aspects worked out. When May woke up she agreed 100% that it was the right move. All May, Pepper, and I want is to make sure you're taken care of." He waited for Peter's nod that he understood. "May's injury is similar to Rhodey's. Between the research that we put into trying to get Rhodey straightened out and Dr. Strange's input, her prognosis is 50/50 on being able to walk without the assistance of braces like Rhodey's."

Peter couldn't help but to stiffen at hearing it out loud. "I should have been able..."

"No."

Peter almost jumped at the tone in Tony's voice. "But..."

"Peter, she would be dead if you hadn't done what you did. It's simple physics. You tried to stop a moving vehicle with no leverage. Even if you were twice as strong you couldn't have stopped it. Hell, the Iron Man armor wouldn't have been able to stop it without leverage. I know you understand the math behind it." Tony took a deep breath because he realized how important it was that Peter believe this what he was saying. "You took the brunt of the impact. There was absolutely nothing you could have done differently to change what happened. You saved her life. You need to understand that."

Peter looked down. "It wasn't enough."

"It was enough to save her and that's all that matters." Tony leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. "Look at me." He waited for Peter to bring his eyes up to meet his. "It's a really hard thing to accept that you can't keep everyone safe but I need you to understand. I don't want you to make the same mistakes I made. I wanted to keep everyone safe so I created Ultron. I think you know how that one turned out."

Peter looked down again. "I don't like that option."

"And you shouldn't. Not liking the option means you keep trying. You keep fighting. You keep coming up with better strategies. But you don't let the outcome cripple you either. Finding the balance is the worst part of this life. And I'll be honest, none of us have figured it out. But I don't want you so focused on what you see as a failure that it destroys you. Focus on the fact that May is alive."

Peter rolled Tony's words around in his head. May was alive. He was still wrapping his head around the rest of it.

Tony knew this was not something that Peter was going get, at least not now. And that was probably ok with that as long as he wasn't beating himself up over it. "May's alive. There are some surgical options and lots of therapy options." Tony paused. He and May had talked about the future but he realized that Peter should have been involved in those conversations. Of course, when he and May were having these conversations Peter was in no shape to be an active participant. "I proposed that Pepper and I move back to the city and you and she would move in with us. She was not opposed to the idea." When Tony had proposed the idea, her immediate reaction had been no. The longer they talked about it she had understood that it was really the best idea for Peter. "It would be easier to arrange her medical needs in a building I own as opposed to trying to make something work elsewhere."

Peter could barely comprehend what Tony was saying. He was willing to move to accommodate Peter and May. It was mind boggling. "You'd move back to the city?"

"As nice as it is to be away from the craziness of the city I kind of miss it. Plus if we build our own cabin we can get away any time. You wouldn't have to travel so far. I was thinking a high rise by the river. There are a couple that have great views. You can swing back to Queens pretty easily. What do you think?"

"You'd move back to the city. May and I would live with you and Pepper." Peter was wondering if his brain hadn't short circuited a little.

Tony stood up and grabbed both plates and took them to the kitchen. "Yes. Do you want to see some of the building we're looking at?"

Peter nodded and followed Tony over to the couch where they spent most of the morning looking at real estate in Manhattan and upstate New York. After the second time Peter's nerve endings triggered Tony sent him to take a nap. Which he actually did much to Tony's amazement.


	8. The Depths of Hell

As great as most of the week was, it wasn't free from some colossal plummets into what Tony was considering the depths of hell. He was lulled into a false sense of security after two relatively good days. Peter was eating and getting back on a normal schedule. The nerve issues were few and far between. Little did Tony know that apparently they were just saving up and planning on leveling Peter in one fell swoop. At 2am. Tony almost fell out of bed when Peter cried out. Tony skidded into his room and found Peter on his hands and knees next to his bed.

"It won't stop." Peter ground out between pants of breath.

Tony crouched on his knees in front of Peter. He could see how tense Peter's muscles were. He reached down and grabbed both arms only to have them yanked out of his reach. "Pete, come on, let me help."

"It hurts." Peter rolled back onto the balls of his feet and wrapped his arms around his knees, pressing his arms into his knees.

"I know. Let me help." Tony inched closer and put his hands out. "Let me help." He watched Peter dip his head onto his knees and he took the opportunity to wrap his hands around Peter's forearms. He could feel how tight the muscles were underneath his fingers. On top of nerve pain, the stress this was putting Pete's muscles through had to be excruciating. Peter wasn't pulling away but he was screaming and crying. Something Tony realized in that moment he would give anything to stop. Keeping his hands wrapped around Peter's forearms he felt the muscle spasms. If he could get Peter calmed down he could do something to help the muscles. But there was no way he could leave him even if was just for a minute to get something hot to wrap around his forearms.

"I can't do this. It hurts." Peter's voice was raw from screaming.

"You can do it. It'll stop soon. It always does. Focus on me. My voice." Brown, swollen eyes peered at him. Tony could hear Peter trying to get his breathing under control. He knew he needed a distraction to get Peter to stop thinking about how much it hurt. "So I think your secret visits to the Children's Hospital are no longer secret. When you were unconscious Bucky took Steve. Made him wear the uniform and take the shield. Bucky didn't want the kids to be disappointed because you weren't there so you really can't blame him for busting you with Steve. But funny thing, Steve, like Bucky loves it." Tony could hear Peter's breathing turn a little less erratic. "Somehow Natasha found out because she cornered the two of them the next time they went and insisted on going with them. Saturday's are now becoming 'Avenger Saturdays'. But to hear Bucky talk, the kids really miss seeing Spider-Man. Black Widow, Captain America, and the Winter Soldier can't do flips like you can." Peter's muscles were still contracted but his breathing was almost even. "You with me Pete?" He got a small nod in return. "Are your nerves still firing?"

Peter shook his head. Everything just hurt.

"Ok, your muscles are completely cramped. I want to get some hot towels to wrap around your arms and I want to get you some Gatorade. To do that I have to let go and I need to leave just for a minute." The brown eyes staring at him widened. "I don't have to do it now. I'm right here." Tony looked around the room. He wanted to get Peter off the balls of his feet. If his calfs weren't cramping yet they would be soon. They were closest to the bed. "I want to get you off the floor, ok? The bed is next to us. On the count of three we're getting up."

Somehow Tony maneuvered Peter back into bed. Peter pressed his back against the headboard and drew his knees up to his chest again. Tony still had his hands wrapped around Peter's forearms. He watched Peter struggle to get his breathing under control again. Once it was, the brown eyes opened again and found Tony's.

"This sucks."

Tony chuckled. "Definitely. Do you want me to try to get you some Gatorade now?"

"No, but it would probably help wouldn't it."

Tony found it encouraging that Peter was starting to string more than a couple words together. "One minute tops."

Peter nodded and Tony released his forearms. Peter clinched his eyes shut against the pain the vacated pressure produced. He felt Tony get off the bed. He wasn't sure if it was one minute or ten. His arms hurt, then he felt something warm wrapped around them.

"I can come up with something a little better when we get home. For now this is going to have to do." Tony tightened the wet towel around Peter's arm. He hoped he hadn't made it too hot. Peter actually looked better as the heat seeped into the muscle. He repeated it on the other arm then sat back and waited for Peter to give him feedback.

"That's...so much better." Peter sighed as the warmth started to loosen the muscles. He opened his eyes and saw Tony staring at him. "Thanks."

Tony picked up the Gatorade off the nightstand. "Here, I brought straws too." He held it in front of Peter and waited for him to take a sip.

Peter drank half the Gatorade and leaned his head back against the headboard and shut his eyes. "I want this to stop."

Tony hated how exhausted Peter looked. How the pain he felt in his arms was etched into his face. "I know. We'll get Strange to look at you when we get home."

"He's just going to tell me to give my body time to heal. It never takes this long. Even after the Vulture I was fine a couple days later. All of the burns and broken bones...two days. I slept for two days and woke up fine. Just give me something to knock me out until this goes away." Peter opened his eyes and looked at Tony, silently pleading for relief.

"I don't know why this is taking longer but I think you already tried the 'let me sleep route' and it didn't work out too great, did it." Tony really didn't want to have this conversation right now, not when Peter felt so bad.

Peter clinched his jaw and turned his head to stare at the wall. His eyes were already swollen from crying and he didn't want to start again.

Tony looked at the teen sitting in front of him and saw too much of himself. While Peter's metabolism would probably never let him become the drunk Tony had been and it would probably never let drugs be a life threatening situation, the underlying reasons Tony had turned to drugs and alcohol were rearing their head with Peter. The escapism and the need to feel numb were staring him in the face. The only thing not there was the desire to lash out at a father that wanted nothing to do with him. But Peter had his own ghosts when it came to father figures. They had started putting those to rest earlier this week but it was going to take time to get rid of them entirely. "You once told me you just wanted to be like me. Right now I'm absolutely terrified because you are so much like me. The good and the bad. It's the bad that has me worried. You're stronger than this, stronger than I was. You don't need an escape. You're strong enough to do this because you aren't doing it alone. If I have to sit here and hold your arms all night until they stop cramping that's what I'll do. And when the next thing comes up we'll face that together too." Tony reached down and unwrapped the cooled towels from Peter's arms and started massaging the muscles. They felt looser, not quite as knotted. "Pete I meant what I said that I want you to be better than me. Not a better superhero but a better person. I don't want you to make the same mistakes I did. You already have so many qualities that are inherently better than me. Let me help you make sure you're not dragged down by the not so good qualities."

Peter turned his head and looked at Tony. He blinked away the tears that were threatening to start falling and simply nodded.


	9. Going Home

The rest of the week was moderately better. No more middle of the night flare ups. The times they hit now weren't nearly as bad. Neither one of them was convinced they were over but they took solace in the fact that they weren't as bad. Tony would have stayed at the cabin another week if that's what Peter needed. He would have stayed a month if they needed to, but Peter was the one that made the decision that he thought he would be ok at the compound.

FRIDAY landed the jet in the same clearing. Bags slung over shoulders they both boarded the jet and settled in for the somewhat short flight back. There was no awkward silence this time. Much to Tony's delight Peter talked the entire way home. He had missed Peter's nonstop chatter and he definitely took it as a sign that he was on the way back.

The jet landed and they walked down the ramp. Pepper was waiting for them in the hanger. She stopped in front of Peter, hugged him, and kissed him on the cheek. "How are you?"

Peter blushed a little at the attention, "I'm ok."

Tony sat his bag down and watched Pepper give Peter a once over. He had put a little weight back on but was still skinnier than he needed to be. Pepper finally turned toward Tony. "I'm glad you two are back. It's been quiet without you both here."

"Tony, I'm going to head upstairs." Peter shifted his bag on his shoulder. He saw the scrutinizing look Tony was giving him. "I'm good. I just want to text MJ and Ned." Because he was focused on Tony he missed the look on Pepper's face.

"Ok, we'll be up in a few minutes." Tony watched Peter walk out of the hanger and head toward the elevator.

Pepper wrapped her arms around him. "He called you Tony! Did you have a good week?"

Tony picked up his bag and put his arm around Pepper's shoulder. "It was a week spent moving in the right direction. Some good. Some bad. But he's closer to being back than he was before."

"That's all that matters." They headed toward the elevator, "Physically how is he?"

"Still having some nerve related flare ups. I think those are probably fine and manageable. They're causing his muscles to cramp which is what I'm more worried about. I'm going to get Helen to do an MRI of his arms in the morning and then we'll get Strange to take a look too." They stepped into the elevator and it headed up to their floor. Tony leaned over and kissed Pepper. "I missed you."

XXXXXXXXXX

Peter decided that he didn't like MRI's and that he wasn't a fan of doctors at this point either. The MRI showed that his muscles weren't completely healed but according to Dr. Cho and the orthopedist she brought in, there wasn't anything to be worried about. Dr. Strange spent entirely too long testing nerve responses in his arms and came to the conclusion that the nerves were more than likely almost healed as well. And then he and Tony launched into a lengthy discussion about whether or not electro stimulation or ultrasounds would be useful that Peter only halfway paid attention to. He understood why Tony was concerned about the electro stimulation. While they didn't fully understand his stickiness they knew he could control it like he could the nanotech meaning it somehow responded to brain waves which were really just electrical impulses. They hadn't found anything he couldn't stick to and conditions didn't really affect it either. It was pretty simple to draw the conclusion that they were somehow electrical related. His suits had dampeners as a precaution. He had never been hit with an electrical burst so they didn't know how he would react and Tony really didn't want to test it to find out. Bouncing his leg he looked between Tony and Dr. Strange. "What you're both getting to is that I just need to suck it up and give it time."

Dr. Strange smirked, "Unfortunately yes. I think you may find it helpful to get on a schedule of applying heat to the muscles in your arms so if the nerves flare up they're already relaxed enough where they won't cramp too badly. Then compression and massage if they do cramp up. I wish I could give you a timeline but you are...unique."

Peter looked at Tony with a resigned look on his face. "I don't think I like 'unique' any better than I liked 'inhuman'"

Tony sighed "Thanks Stephen. At least we can rule out any issues?" He looked at Strange for confirmation.

"I believe everything is healing the way it's supposed to. Just have some patience."

Tony and Peter headed toward the door. "You obviously don't see many 15 year olds. 'Patience' is not in their vocabulary."

Tony and Peter headed toward the elevator. Once there, Tony had FRIDAY let them off on the Avenger floor. In response to the questioning look on Peter's face Tony smiled, "Just because you're not cleared to do much of anything doesn't mean you can't listen in on a debrief. They've been taking out Hydra manufacturing labs." Tony looked at the grin on Peter's face and couldn't help teasing him a little. "I mean, we can go back upstairs if you would prefer."

"No!" Peter walked ahead of Tony and headed to the command center.

Steve smiled when Peter walked into the command center. FRIDAY had let them know that Tony and Peter were on their way up from MedBay. "Hey Queens."

Bucky pushed the chair next to him back to allow Peter to slide in. Tony grabbed the chair next to Peter. He couldn't help but to smile at the look on Peter's face. Just being in the room with the rest of the team erased the frustration he had from the morning spent being poked and prodded just to be told to have patience with the healing process.

Steve pulled up a map showing all the locations they had hit in the last month. "We think we may have gotten everything in the US. No new intel has shown up in the last week. There are a couple more that are cropping up worldwide. T'challa is assisting on everything in Africa and Asia. We're focusing on Europe and South America."

Wanda leaned forward. "Where do we stand on the alternative options for the ones hit with Terrigen?"

"We met with someone who is able to not only locate but give them a options. He has his own 'abilities' and has made it his life's mission to offer sanctuary and assistance to anyone with mutated DNA." Steve looked at Tony to see if he had anything additional to offer.

"Unlike Hydra and unfortunately Shield sometimes, he doesn't force them to accept what he's offering. Which means we will end up with people with newly found powers that they have no idea how to control out on their own. It's a different world now." Tony knew it wasn't really the answer Wanda wanted but he wasn't sure if any answer would have made her happy. "The ones that accept his offer are taken to a school he runs that's actually not too far from here. For the younger ones, on top of teaching them to control their powers they're getting an education. For the older ones the focus is on control. Wanda, he's extended an open invitation for any of us to visit. If you want to check it out you're more than welcome to."

Wanda looked down. She knew first hand what it felt like to have powers you didn't know how to control. It had taken her a while to be able to manage her own. She also knew what it was like to be used for your powers. "I'd like to meet him and check out this school."

"Anyone else want to go? We can make a field trip out of it." Tony smirked when most of the team raised their hands. He wasn't necessarily surprised by the ones who didn't. He would have assumed that Bucky, Clint, and Rhodey wouldn't have wanted to go. He knew Peter hadn't raised his hand either. He wouldn't have let him go anyway just as a safeguard to his identity but he would have thought he would have been curious. He'd figure it out later.

XXXXXXXXXX

Debrief completed, Tony and Peter headed back up to their floor. Tony wanted Peter to try Dr. Strange's suggestion about relaxing the muscles. He parked Peter on the couch and put in a movie while he had heating pads wrapped around his arms. Tony wasn't surprised when Peter fell asleep half way through. He knew he still needed to catch up on sleep. Plus, May was on her way back from a doctor's consultation in Germany so they were planning on having a "family" dinner that included just himself, Peter, Pepper, May, and Happy. He realized that his definition of family had taken a turn somewhere and he couldn't be happier


	10. Driving Lessons

"It's only been 10 days since the last time your nerve endings flared up." Tony crossed his arms and stared at the kid in front of him who was pushing every boundary he had right now.

"Yes, but it didn't last as long and my muscles didn't cramp. I'm not talking about swinging through Manhattan. I'm talking about going in the gym and swinging from the rafters." Peter didn't think he had a chance in hell of this working but he was desperate to do something. Anything.

"No." Pepper didn't even look up from her coffee.

"But...". Peter started.

"No"

Tony had to hide the smile that threatened to creep across his face. It was nice to hear Pepper use the "tone" with someone other than him.

"But..."

Tony had to give the kid credit for persistence. He usually gave up after the second 'No'.

"Peter. You need to ease back into using your arms like that. There is a ton of equipment set up in the gyms. Find something that isn't 40 feet off the ground. Do you really want to find yourself back in MedBay just because you rushed it and your arms cramped mid swing?"

"No ma'am." Peter knew they were both right but he missed swinging. He missed being active. He had been running a couple times with Steve but even having someone who could run as fast as he could didn't get enough of the energy out. And he was bored.

"Come on kid. I've got an idea." Tony hated the dejected tone in Peter's voice.

Peter followed Tony into the elevator and out into the parking garage. Tony stopped in front of one of the cars and threw the keys to Peter. "Get in."

"What?" Peter had not expected them to end up in the parking garage much less being handed keys to a car.

"You turn 16 in two months. From what I've seen you have zero idea how to drive. So we're going to learn." Tony opened the passenger side and got in.

Peter stood outside of the car staring at the keys in his hand. Tony was right. He had no idea how to drive. Opening the door he got behind the wheel. His brain shut down. He literally had no idea what to do.

"Push ignition. Unless you're driving one of the classic cars all you have to do is put your foot on the brake and push the button."

Peter dropped the keys in the center console, put his foot on the brake and pushed the button. The engine purred and the dashboard lit up. He turned to look at Tony expectantly. "Just assume that I have no idea what to do."

Tony shook his head and started running through various buttons on the steering wheel and dashboard. It took about five minutes before they were ready to back out. "Shift into reverse. There's a backup camera but I don't want you to rely on it. Check all of your mirrors, physically turn and look, and then double check the backup camera to make sure you're clear."

Peter followed Tony's directions and slowly backed out of the parking space. He looked over at Tony expectantly and received a sigh in return.

"If you think you have enough clearance, shift into drive and let's go."

Peter took a painstaking amount of time to actually get out of the parking deck. A little less time to get on the main road. Thirty minutes into it and Peter was feeling somewhat successful that he hadn't hit anything. "This is much less stressful than the last time I drove."

Tony laughed. "I've seen the video, remember. Once you've got a year or two under your belt we'll get Natasha or Bucky to teach you defensive driving."

Peter was actually enjoying his impromptu driving lesson. They spent about an hour driving the roads around the compound. Tony had successfully taken his mind off not being able to swing. He pulled into the parking deck and found a parking space well away from all of the other cars.

"That was fun. Thanks for taking me." Peter handed the keys back to Tony.

"We'll try to drive for at least a little while every day. It's the only way you're going to get used to it."

They both stopped short when the elevators door opened. Happy and May exited. Happy had May's arm looped through his. She had only had the braces for about two weeks and was just about as awkward as Rhodey was when he first got his.

"Peter! Tony! What have you two been up to?" May stopped but didn't let go of Happy's arm.

"Tony took me driving!" Peter gave his aunt a kiss on the cheek. "Where are you going?"

"I have a therapy appointment in the city. We thought it would be better to go out than to have them come here all the time. Then I think we're going to try to go to dinner if it doesn't wear me out."

"I thought we'd go to that Italian place you like." Happy piped up.

Peter stepped back and let his aunt and Happy pass. Peter and Tony could hear laughter as they got to Happy's car. They turned to look at each other with a questioning look. "I don't think I've ever heard Happy laugh." Peter frowned as they watched Happy and May pull out of the deck.

"He laughs. Just not that often." Tony opened his mouth to say something but shut it again and stared after Happy's disappearing car. "Come on, lets go to the gym and figure out what you can do that won't kill you."

Peter watched the car a little bit longer. "Yeah. Gym." Happy and May were going to dinner. And Happy was laughing. "That was weird, right?"

Tony looked back at him. "I'm sure it's fine. They're adults. Happy is driving her to therapy. Then they're eating. Adults have to eat too." He paused. "It's fine."

XXXXXXXXXX

Natasha walked into the gym and stopped next to Tony. "Is he allowed to be doing that?"

Tony looked over at her. "He tried to convince us to let him swing from the rafters. He's only about 5 feet off the ground. Dr. Cho made the mistake of telling him that if he went a week without his nerve flaring up he could start testing his arms. He took that to mean he could go out as Spider-Man again. It's been three days of continual pushing to see what we'd let him get away with. Pepper has been able to pretty much shut him down every time but he is right in that he needs to start testing his arms. So, we compromised."

"How is that a compromise?" Natasha frowned as Peter held himself up on a pair of gymnastic rings then flipped and caught them again, pulling himself back up.

"Have you seen what he does when he swings? Yes, this is a compromise." He raised his voice to yell at Peter. "You're done in 2 minutes."

XXXXXXXXXX

Dr. Strange felt Peter's arms. He had spent the last thirty minutes testing his reflexes and nerve responses. "It's been 2 weeks since you have any problems? No nerve pain? No numbness? No muscle cramps?"

"15 days to be exact. No pain, no numbness, no muscle cramps. No issues at all." Peter grinned at the two doctors in front of him. "So am I cleared?"

Dr. Cho looked at Dr. Strange who nodded. "You are cleared to swing. In the gym. Not in the city. If you go a week without an incident we can talk. You are not cleared for anything Avenger related. Before you throw yourself into anything life threatening you need to be clear for 1 full month."

"But I can start swinging again, right?" Peter popped out of the chair he was sitting in.

"In the gym." Dr. Cho looked over at Tony. "You do have something in his suit to monitor him, right?"

Tony nodded and watched Peter dart out of the room. He was pretty sure the web shooters were already formed around Peter's wrists by the time he had gotten into the hallway. "Thanks. Here's hoping we're not back down here in an hour."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I tried a different posting approach and uploaded the entire story at once. Next Up...
> 
> **Tuna Salad**
> 
> _"I hope we have tuna salad tomorrow. You know how much I love it."_
> 
> _Peter stared at the message from Ned. Swallowing, he thought about what his response should be. Settling on simple he started his response._
> 
> _"I haven't had tuna salad in ages. Maybe I'll see if we can have it tomorrow too. We had pizza, pepperoni, no peppers."_
> 
> _Peter cringed. It was a terrible response but he needed to wrap this up and try to glean some info._
> 
> _"Pepperoni is awesome. Definitely no peppers. Gotta go, talk tomorrow"_
> 
> _"FRIDAY, tell Tony I'm headed his way. It's an emergency. And tell Pepper I'm sorry. Oh, and see if you can track Ned's cellphone?" Peter tore his door open and ran down the hall to Tony's door. Hopefully it was enough of a heads up that he wasn't interrupting anything. Almost happening once was more than enough. Tony pulled the door open as Peter skidded to a stop in front of him._
> 
> _"Ned'sintroubleIneedhelp." Peter pulled the messages up and handed it to Tony._
> 
> _Tony scanned the messages, "You hate tuna salad. And what's the pepperoni comment?"_
> 
> _"Code words. When Ned first became the 'Guy In The Chair' he thought I should have a code word in case I was ever in trouble and couldn't say 'I'm in trouble'. He came up with tuna salad because we both hate it. We thought it was innocuous enough that no one would think it was weird. Never thought he'd be the one using it. He's supposed to be at a coding camp." Leaned to look past Tony, he looked at Pepper with a chagrined look, "Pepper, sorry if I woke you up or whatever."_
> 
> _Pepper leaned over Tony's shoulder and smiled. "It's fine. Tony, I think the pepperoni comment is telling Peter to bring you." She saw the confusion on his face, "Pepperoni, no peppers. Pepper and Tony minus the Pepper." She smiled when Tony rolled his eyes. "You two look into it. I'll stay out of your hair. Let me know if you need anything and let me know if you leave." She kissed Tony on the cheek, then turned and pressed her hand against Peter's cheek. "He'll be ok."_


End file.
